Great communication is essential in business. Not only is it important for your relationships with customers but it’s also important for your employees to communicate well with each other. With so many new ways of interacting with your customers, it’s argued that the telephone is going out of fashion in business. While it’s good to expand into digital forms of communication to improve the customer experience, these shouldn’t be your only point of contact.
Here are just 5 reasons why the telephone is still important for businesses:
01. The telephone is still the customer’s preferred method of communication.
While you may have email and web chats in place, if your customers urgently need to get in contact with you they will always favour the phone. This is for many reasons but mainly because it’s the most direct way of getting in contact with you to get an instant answer.
02. It helps to build relationships
A phone call is the next best thing to face-to-face interaction and it helps to give a personal touch to the way you do business. No one likes talking to a robot and by giving your customers the chance to talk to you on the phone, you can get to know them better. For existing customers, this means you can better your service to them, as you’ll get a good idea about the kind of things they’ll be phoning in about. If a potential new customer phones you, this is a great chance for you to get the wheels in motion and start a new business relationship.
03. Minimises confusion
If your customers are contacting you chances are they want more information about your products and services or they have important questions that need to be answered. By giving your customers the chance to speak to your team in real-time, you can eliminate any confusion that might occur. If you’re able to talk things through at the customers own pace you can also be there to answer any questions that pop up as the conversation flows. Meaning your customers end the call feeling confident and more informed – instead of leaving them puzzled for days over an email chain.
04. It saves time
We’ve all been there, waiting hours (or even days) to get a reply to an important email – when a quick 5-minute phone call could have been the answer all along. Email tennis wastes so much time – not only for your customers but for your employees too. Say you’re working on an important project and you need the input of another department or even another site.
Instead of sending across an email and waiting hours for them to reply – using your business phone system you can just pick up the phone and get your answers straight away – at a very little cost too. The same goes for your customers. Instead of waiting for your team to reply to their email (and with the number of emails you receive, chances are this could take some time) and then taking time to reply to any follow-up emails, it’s good to encourage them to just pick up the phone. This sorts any issues quickly and efficiently.
05. Not everyone is using the internet
By focusing on internet-based channels such as email or web chats, you are excluding a large proportion of the UK population. Although most people these days are using the internet, there’s still a large percentage that either don’t have a connection or don’t like doing business online. If you’re only focusing on your online or digital efforts you’re making it very hard for these people to get in contact with you and you don’t want them to feel excluded. By offering a phone number you are giving everyone a chance to contact you directly.
Having you Been Neglecting your Business Phone System?
If you are focusing on other methods of communication, ask yourself why?
- Is your phone system still fit for purpose?
- Is your phone system out of date?
- Do you feel your phone system can not handle the level of calls you receive?
If you answered yes to any of the above, call us on 02382 146115 to talk to one of our expert telecoms consultants.
We’ll talk through your businesses needs and you can book a FREE consultation and demonstration.
